280 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



This bird is a diving thrush! Nature has fitted it to dive 

 boldly into the coldest and most turbulent water, or through 

 a water-fall, and even to walk on the bottom of a still pool in 

 search of food, without being at all disturbed. Both in form 

 and size this little creature is like a large wren, but it is so 

 peculiar it occupies a genus quite alone. Of course it is not 

 web-footed; and in appearance it exhibits not one feature sug- 

 gestive of a semi-aquatic life. Its home is along the foaming 

 torrents of the Rocky Mountains, and Sierra Nevadas, from 

 Alaska to Guatemala. It nests close beside swift-running 

 streams, sometimes beside or even behind a cascade. It is 

 known that this strange bird gives forth a song both clear and 

 sweet, but I have never seen one elsewhere than near a roar- 

 ing torrent, where no ordinary bird song could be heard. 



THE WARBLER FAMILY 



Mniotiltidae 



From the middle of April to the middle of September the 

 woods and thickets of the northern states are inhabited by a 

 very considerable number of tiny bird forms. They are trim- 

 built little creatures, quiet and businesslike, and they take 

 themselves very seriously. A few of them are clad in refined 

 shades of yellow, but — most fortunately — the great majority 

 wear dull olive, gray or brown colors, and thereby escape 

 the hostile attention that bright plumage always attracts. 



These are the warblers, very useful in the destruction of 

 insects, but the most elusive and difficult little creatures with 

 which bird students have to deal. 



The high-water mark in insect destruction by our birds is 



